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Thyroid cancer discovery points to new treatments, prevention
November 16, 2006The actions of a mutated protein in cells linked to thyroid cancer have been uncovered by researchers at Queen's University. The discovery paves the way for the future development of drugs to more effectively target, treat and possibly even prevent both inherited and non-inherited thyroid cancers.
"We now know why this gene causes these tumours and can start looking at how best to target the mutant proteins so that the cells expressing them can be killed or stopped from growing," says Lois Mulligan, professor of pathology and molecular medicine with the Division of Cancer Biology and Genetics of the Queen's Cancer Research Institute. She is senior author of a study to be published November 15 in the journal Cancer Research.
Taranjit S. Gujral, a Ph D student in Queen's Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine and lead author on the paper, developed three-dimensional models of the mutated RET protein implicated in a condition causing cancerous thyroid tumours. The model allowed him to predict and compare the protein's molecular actions and to see that the protein was ten times more active than normal in cells associated with Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia 2B (MEN 2B) syndrome, an inherited cancer syndrome. Co-authors on the study include Vinay K. Singh and Zongchao Jia of Queen's Biochemistry Department.
"It's like stepping on the gas in a car and getting way more gas than you bargained for," says Mulligan. "The mutation may cause some new actions but it chiefly does some actions more efficiently than normal."
MEN 2B is a dominantly inherited condition - the most severe of its kind - and is characterized by the early onset of thyroid tumours, sometimes even affecting infants, and can also cause developmental abnormalities including elongated bones, gastric problems and bumpy lips.
MEN 2B is currently treated with surgery, and other treatments, such as radiation and chemotherapy are not very effective. The study provides valuable tools for specific targeting of the actions of the protein that may aid in the development of anticancer therapies.
The models created by Mr. Gujral, a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Trainee in Transdisciplinary Cancer Research and Protein Function Discovery, can be used further to help illuminate the actions of the protein with MEN 2B's other mutations. The research team credits the transdisciplinary approach and its benefits for providing fresh perspectives in generating the new understanding of RET's role in MEN 2B. Additional funding for the study came from the Canadian Cancer Society and the CIHR.
Queen's University
"It's like stepping on the gas in a car and getting way more gas than you bargained for," says Mulligan. "The mutation may cause some new actions but it chiefly does some actions more efficiently than normal."
MEN 2B is a dominantly inherited condition - the most severe of its kind - and is characterized by the early onset of thyroid tumours, sometimes even affecting infants, and can also cause developmental abnormalities including elongated bones, gastric problems and bumpy lips.
MEN 2B is currently treated with surgery, and other treatments, such as radiation and chemotherapy are not very effective. The study provides valuable tools for specific targeting of the actions of the protein that may aid in the development of anticancer therapies.
The models created by Mr. Gujral, a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Trainee in Transdisciplinary Cancer Research and Protein Function Discovery, can be used further to help illuminate the actions of the protein with MEN 2B's other mutations. The research team credits the transdisciplinary approach and its benefits for providing fresh perspectives in generating the new understanding of RET's role in MEN 2B. Additional funding for the study came from the Canadian Cancer Society and the CIHR.
Queen's University
Thyroid Cancer Current Events and Thyroid Cancer News RSSNewly revised guidelines for managing thyroid cancer published in Thyroid journal
The American Thyroid Association has released new, revised Management Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer.
Study examines complications of thyroid surgery in older patients
In a study of patients undergoing thyroid surgery performed by a single surgeon, older adults did not appear to have more complications than younger patients.
Thyroid surgery safe for older patients, study finds
Thyroid surgery is safe for older patients, say physicians who found only slight differences in rates of complications and hospital readmissions in a multi-year study.
Researchers pinpoint a new enemy for tumor-suppressor p53
Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have identified a protein that marks the tumor suppressor p53 for destruction, providing a potential new avenue for restoring p53 in cancer cells.
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When combined with standard chemotherapy, an international Phase III trial has shown that the oral targeted therapy vandetanib improves progression-free survival for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
First comprehensive guidelines for managing medullary thyroid carcinoma published in Thyroid journal
New guidelines designed to standardize and optimize the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of patients with Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma (MTC), an uncommon and challenging form of thyroid cancer, have been developed by the American Thyroid Association.
Drug that targets vasculature growth attacks aggressive thyroid cancer
A medication that helps stop the growth of new blood vessels has produced dramatic benefits for some patients with aggressive thyroid cancer, research from Mayo Clinic indicates.
Metastatic bone disease patients can walk in Lazarus' footsteps
Osteoplasty-a highly effective minimally invasive procedure to treat the painful effects of metastatic bone disease by injecting bone cement to support weakened bones-provides immediate and substantial pain relief, often presenting individuals who are suffering terribly with the miraculous so-called "Lazarus effect," according to researchers at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 34th Annual Scientific Meeting.
Mayo Clinic Researchers Find Experimental Therapy Turns on Tumor Suppressor Gene in Cancer Cells
Researchers at Mayo Clinic have found that the experimental drug they are testing to treat a deadly form of thyroid cancer turns on a powerful tumor suppressor capable of halting cell growth. Few other cancer drugs have this property, they say.
Molecular imaging enables earlier, individualized treatment of thyroid cancer
In a study to determine the diagnostic value of molecular imaging in nodal staging of patients with thyroid cancer, researchers were able for the first time to accurately distinguish between cancerous cells in regional lymph nodes and normal residual thyroid tissue directly after surgery.
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